Resurrection Power:  You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down, Part 2

about Jesus. And it is. But it's also a message about how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead because of his resurrection power. And as Pastor Ford just pointed out, when we see his resurrection power, we're probably going to

be led to more prayer and more praise. Because when we understand who Jesus truly is when we see that He is God incarnate, the Son of God in all his power and in all his glory with skin on than it does, I think, lead us to more prayer and to more praise when we realize the fact that Jesus conquered sin and conquered death, and He Himself was able to lay his life down and pick it up again and give life to those who were dead around him. How can that not lead us to more prayer and

more praise? Well, that's what we're looking at in today's broadcast. So if you can open your Bible and join us in John chapter 11 as we continue the message resurrection power. You can't keep a good man down. Here is Pastor Ford.

last year. We had the Divine declaration. I called it the greatest statement ever made. Why was it the greatest statement? Pastor Ford, I'm glad you asked me. You asked intelligent question it because it was the greatest identification I am is the greatest declaration, the resurrection and the life. It was the greatest confirmation, though he were dead. Yet shall he live? It's the greatest invitation. Believest thou this? And it was the greatest application, she said, Lord, I believe.

Now let's finish this text up. And, uh, the good thing about it is the body of my message is as long as my introduction. Amen. I didn't I didn't say anything. Anything about my conclusion. Uh, so now now we have resurrection celebration. Let's walk through. Imma drop em, not push em. As my friend Romeo would say. Resurrection, celebration. Now we come to the actual event where the power that Jesus shows. I don't need to die to have

resurrection power. I am the resurrection and the life. And because you can't keep a God man down, you're not going to be able to keep a good man down. Here it is. Notice in this resurrection celebration, there are five elements of this resurrection celebration. Number one, let's go on. Move. Look at the compassion of Christ. Verse 35 says, Jesus wept, man, I tell you, there are two verses of Scripture that everybody seems to know. This is one of them. Jesus wept. Uh, yeah.

I remember, uh, my sons. I used to tell them, okay, to get a treat, you gotta have a memory verse. You gotta give me a memory verse. And I ain't going to tell you which one. Uh, came back with it. Uh, but it was that one that's up in the balcony right now. And he came back and he said, I got my verse memorized. How you do it so fast, he said. John 1135 Jesus wept. I said, oh no, he said, that's a verse. He said, all right. Yeah. And you know the other one, right? What's the other one?

This morning they said, John 316. No. Jesus turned water into wine. Every time I witnesses, somebody got an alcohol problem. That's what they remind me of. Jesus turned water into wine, didn't he? Then he turned water into wine. Yeah. And so Jesus wept. Now, here's my question. Here's my question. Why is Jesus weeping? Didn't he already know he was going to raise him? Answer yes. Then why are you weeping? Jesus? See, there were two reasons that motivated Jesus while he walked

on earth. Uh. Here's one. He saw their faith. Uh, Mark two five. Uh, he saw their faith. Luke 520. He saw their faith. Uh. Matthew 1842. 42. Matthew nine two. He moved because he saw faith. Why? Because faith is the currency of heaven. That's how you cash in on the promises of God. How do I know that? I hate to get the Bible in this, but now a word from our sponsor. He says without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to him must believe that he is, and that he is a

rewarder of them that diligently. So when Jesus sees faith, he acts. But there's another reason. You know what it is. Say, what is it? He was moved with compassion. Oh, I love that, because sometimes I don't have faith. And Jesus does it anyway. Because what is compassion? My pain in his heart. Your pain in his heart. And so here, now we see the compassion of Jesus. Jesus, why are you crying? Because I'm not only God, I'm also a man.

And one of the things I want to convey to my people is that I know the struggles that you're going through. God the father doesn't know our struggles because he is God and he does not experience anything. Remember I asked you the question, has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God? Alright, but Jesus became a man and so he's saying, listen what you're going through. Are you homeless? Son of man have nowhere to lay his head. Uh, you have a home. Uh,

the Son of Man does not have a home. Foxes have homes, birds have nests. But the Son of Man hath nowhere to lay his head. You've been hated on. He came into his own, and his own received him not. The same ones who hollered Hosanna! Hosanna turned around on, uh, Maundy Thursday and said, crucify him, crucify him! Yeah. Jesus wants us to know that he can relate to every struggle that we have and that he's crying out for them. He feels their pain. Why, Pastor Ford? Because there's not

a friend like the lowly Jesus. No. Not one, no not one. Hebrews 414 for we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. But in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. How would you define compassion, pastor? Glad you asked. I would call it the love of God that wants the best for us. The wisdom of God that knows what's best for us, the plan of God which is the best for us, and the power of God that

does the best for us. Amen. Now, now, now listen, listen. Jesus wants you to know you came in here today, tore up from the floor. Got a smile on your face. New clothes on your back. But sorrow in your heart. And Jesus says he knows all about it. He knows all about it. Now, let me just tell you this. God didn't bury Lazarus. He planted him. See? How do I know God hasn't buried you? Because you're still breathing. And you're going through something. Which means he only planted you.

He didn't bury you. See, if you're buried, you're there to stay. And the ground stays on top of you. There's a flower called the lotus blossom. Got a picture of it? Isn't that a beautiful flower? Guess why it's so beautiful. Because when it started out, you have to plant it in mud. So you put in the mud and you put the mud on top of it. And it only grows in moist places. And so what happens? It looks buried. But then, because you can't put it in dry earth, it won't grow. It needs mud. It

draws moisture from everything. It needs to survive and to thrive. It draws from the mud. So guess what happens as it's buried there? It looks buried. You go back one day. It's still under the mud. Next day still under the mud. But guess what? You keep going back. And one day you'll see some shoots break through the mud. And then you'll see a stem. And then you keep going back.

And you see that beautiful flower has blossomed. Some of you, in some muddy situations in your marriage and your job and your church, in your hood, you in some muddy situations. But I came to tell you, you're not buried. No, no. The mud is on you, but you are drawing what you need to grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ from the very mud that's on top

of you. And as you begin to trust God, what you'll find is you're going to break through the surface of the mud and the mud that used to be on top of you. Now you are on top of it as, as as you continue to draw from that tragedy, that travesty, then all of a sudden you begin to blossom and and your leaves go out and, and and you begin to look up and you look at yourself and say, wow, I'm beautiful. Look at me. But I'm not beautiful just because I'm beautiful, because of the mud

out of which I grew. Amen. Amen. Tribulation worketh patience. Yeah. Look at somebody and say I'm not buried, I'm just planted. That's right, that's right. I'm not buried. I'm just planted. Yeah. Now. Now, look. Secondly, not just at the. Not just the compassion of Jesus. I want you to see the commitment of Jesus. So Jesus then proceeds to do two things. Prayer and praise. Yeah. Prayer and praise. Listen to what he says. He said, father, I thank thee. When? Verse 41. Then he took away

the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always. But because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. He said, he says, I'm not doing this for my benefit. I'm doing it for that. I'm going to have prayer and I'm going to praise God, and it's going to be audible so that people will know that you have sent me. That's another sermon. I don't have time to do it all.

I just want you to see that Jesus Christ in this resurrection celebration had prayer and praise. I want to ask you, do you? Let me just cut to the chase? You know, you you can go and study the text for yourself. But do you does resurrection power caused you to pray more? Caused you to praise more?

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time to get back to the message once again. Here's Pastor Ford.

They don't have dirty knees. He said, I don't understand it. What do you mean? When a ewe lamb feeds it has his hind legs straight, but its front legs are down and he's on his knees. So I know who's been on their knees by the fact that they have dirt. And when I see the dirt on their knees. I know that they have eaten. Come on, let's look at these today. Yeah. Is anybody pray this morning? Let's look

at knees today. Yeah. Because I guarantee you that your knees is in direct proportion to your knees that you have. Not because you ask, not because Jesus said men ought always pray and not faint. Is anybody got dirty knees up in here, up in here, up in here. Amen. And so prayer works. Abraham's servant prayed and Rebecca appeared. Jacob wrestled and prayed and prevailed with the angel. And Esau's mind was turned from 20 years of revenge. Moses

prayed and Amalek was struck. Joshua prayed and Achan was discovered. Hannah prayed and Samuel was born. David prayed and Ahithophel, his hater, hanged himself. Uh, Asa prayed and victory was won. Jehoshaphat prayed and God turned away his enemies. He turned the choir into a marching army. Isaiah and Hezekiah prayed, and in 12 hours a 185,000 Assyrians were slain by one angel. Daniel prayed and the lions were muzzled. I

guess they said, It's Daniel will shut my mouth. Mordecai and Esther prayed, and the plot to destroy the Jews were thwarted, and Haman was hanged on his own gallows. Nehemiah prayed and the king's heart was softened and he gave him a letter. Leave and lumber. Elijah prayed, and there were three years of drought, and he prayed again, and it rained. The church prayed and Peter was let go. What happens when you pray? Alright, alright then. He praised him.

He gave God the glory due his name. He said, I want people to glorify you, man. You know, I gotta cut to the chase on this because the songwriter says we all ought to be praisers here's what he said. I will bless the Lord. Oh, you reading the Bible, huh? And his shall be in my mouth. That's right. See? Notice he says praise should be done personally. Uh, I will bless the Lord. It should be done persistently in every situation, at all times. It should be done perpetually.

And his praise shall continually. It should be done publicly in my mouth. You tell me you don't have anything to praise him for. You lost your job, but you didn't lose your mind. You better praise him. Yeah, you're in church and you're not in the hospital. You need to praise him. Yeah, you're sick in your body, but you're not dead yet. You need to praise him that your kids are in college, not in jail. You need to praise him. Yeah, your kids are in jail, but

they're not in their graves yet. Praise him. I'm not making what I want to make. Well? Who is? Praise him. You got a job. I don't have a car. You got a venture card? You better praise him. You better praise him that you got legs to walk on because some people don't even have legs. Yeah, I know what you're saying. I'm not all I should be, but thank God you're not what you're used to be. Somebody ought to praise the Lord. Somebody ought to be thanking him.

Somebody ought to be grateful. He put food on your table, clothes on your back. Then notice the commands of Jesus. Notice the commands of Jesus. There are three commands. Notice what he says. Roll the stone away. Wait a minute. Jesus. You ain't have to ask him that. You got power over death so you can say stone be obliterated and it become pebbles. Why don't you do it that way? Because don't miss this. Because I won't do for them

what they can do for themselves. I will only do for them what they can't do, for they can roll the stone. I don't need to do it. They can't raise him from the dead. That's where they need me. So he says, roll the stone. His participation with Jesus. There's the first command. Participation with Jesus. He won't do for you what you can do for yourself. So here's what he's saying. I want you to do some things to help Lazarus get to me. Oh, man. You know

what our response was? And their response was, she went to Jesus and said, man, he's been dead four days. That boy got an odor. He stinks. You know what? Let me just say this. One of the number one reasons why we as believers don't evangelize the way God wants us to is because we don't want to rub elbows with stinking sinners. Alright? They stink. And so we are repulsed. But boy, if 50 gangbangers walked in here with their pants on the ground, with their hats turned

to the side, displaying their colors for everybody. Be looking for those who got conceal and carry in here today. Yeah, here's what I'm saying. Are you lighting the way or are you in the way? Alright. Yeah. You know what? Let me tell you what happened. Food pantry gave out food last week and so they always give me a bag. So they gave me a bag and it had chicken in it. And so I put the chicken in my car and forgot about it. Monday is my off day.

So Tuesday when I was getting ready to come here, I opened up the door and there was a foul odor from. I took it out, threw it in the garbage and from Tuesday to Friday I'm struggling to get that smell out. I couldn't get that smell out. I'm telling you, every time I open the door, I say, man, I preach somewhere every night, every night. And so, you know, I go places now. Now here. You know, I don't do armourbearer. I don't do that stuff. And I just

my personal preference. I ain't saying nothing against anybody got him. But I could carry my own Bible. Thank you. Amen. And so they have the I pull up and they have the Armourbearer parked my car and I say, I say, now look, when you get in my car, they're going to be a smell man, you know? And I say, man, the smell. No, it didn't bother me. Only one guy told the truth. He said, man, it was funky up in there, Jack. So here I am. I'm trying to

find something. I'm struggling to get the stink out. I can't get the stink out. So then I go and I'm walking past in my garage, in my window. I have all of my automobile products. And then I saw this just spray and walk away. I said, oh, wait a minute, it said, arm and hammer, carpet and room. Odor eliminator. Just spray. And I got it. And I went and I sprayed everywhere. That thing was. And the smell was gone. I said, look at this. Look how

this thing worked out for a sermon illustration. Because you you there's no problem. You think it's your job to get the stink off of folk. So you tell em, don't don't wear earrings, don't wear this, don't wear that. Don't do this, don't do that. Don't they. And they still stinking because you can tell them not to do it. But you can't give them the power not to do it. But Jesus is just like the stuff in this plan.

Why are you struggling and trying? All you gotta do is say, Jesus, take my hand while I run this race. And Jesus says. And just walks away. The stink is gone.

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to Treasure Truth radio.org. If you prefer to write and send a check in the mail, our address is Treasure Truth, 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. And thanks again for your generous support. I'm Steve Hiller. Our producer is Amy Rios, and Pastor Ford picks up where we left off on this study of resurrection power. On tomorrow's broadcast. So join us for treasure truth. A production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.